3 Keys For the Jaguars' Defense Vs. Miami and 'Fitzmagic'
On paper, the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) are the understandable favorites over the Miami Dolphins (0-2). As of print, the Jags are a three-point favorite for the primetime Thursday night matchup to kick off Week 3.
But considering Miami was within three and knocking before falling to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Jags defensive end Josh Allen knows they can’t take the team down south lightly.
“We just challenge ourselves not to really get into the media, not get into the status quo of us being the better team than them. We have to come out there and perform like we’re the underdogs every game and just to play to our abilities and not play lower at anything.
“But Miami’s a really good team, nevertheless. They do a lot of good things on offense. Defensively…[Miami QB Ryan] Fitzpatrick gets the ball out pretty quick…we just have to be aware of the situations and just get after this quarterback.”
That was a prevailing theme as the Jaguars players and coaches previewed Thursday’s game. We break it and more down in these three keys for the Jags defense against the Miami offense.
Get To the Quarterback
As Allen said, Fitzpatrick is apt to get the ball out quickly. A lot of this is due to his pre-snap read according to Defensive Coordinator Todd Wash. As the Jags pass rush continues to kick at the door in hopes of breaking it down and opening the floodgates of pressure—something they’ve struggled with the first two weeks—then it will require forcing Fitzpatrick to hold on to the ball.
“There’s no doubt the ball comes out quick. Obviously, he’s a very intelligent individual,” begins Wash.
“He really does a good job pre-snap trying to see what you’re in so he can get those quick, abrupt throws so he’s not in a situation where he’s going to get hit. We’ll face the same thing this week, but we have to do everything we can to try to get him to hold it to buy some time for our rush to get there.”
This was also the case with Philip Rivers and Ryan Tannehill in Week 1 and Week 2 respectively. Both quarterbacks were able to neutralize the Jaguars' pass rush as such. Jacksonville began the game versus Tannehill and the Tennessee Titans rushing four then adding pressure as the game continued. For Wash though, the key is more about not getting into a situation where extra pressure is constantly needed.
“We have to do a better job on first and second down of trying to get them in a little bit of third-and-7 plus situation. I think when the playbook is open as big as it is on a third-and-3 to 6 and stuff like that, I think it’s hard to really just pin your ears back and rush the quarterback. So, a lot of it has to do with the down and distances that we’re in and we just have to continue to get better, which I think we are.”
Josh Allen has no sacks through the first two games, but a combined three quarterback hurries. He feels he should have more. So as the defense as a whole game plans to get after Fitzpatrick early and often on Thursday night, Allen is putting a lot that responsibly on himself as the primary edge rusher.
“We just have to do a better job of getting to the quarterback. We basically say what you said but that still doesn’t neglect the fact that we still have to get to the quarterback as much as we can. So we all have to take that pride in just getting to the quarterback more, especially I do, so I’ve just been grinding as much as I can today and I’ve been thinking about all the missed rushes that I could’ve had. [I have to] just learn from that and just move forward, just think about this week and plays I can make this week for my team.”
Fitz is thinking the same thing on his end, preparing himself for the blitz that could still very easily be a part of Wash’s game plan for the upcoming game.
“For me as a quarterback, you look at some of that stuff and you look at tendencies, but if they do blitz then we need to have an answer for it. I can’t sit here and rely on those things. We’ve got to have answers for everything. But a part of it is when you go into a game, are these guys generating pressures and hurries and how do they do it? Do they rush four? Do they bring exotics? There are a lot of different ways to do it.
“With so little film, we can look at years past and things that have happened, but you kind of have to be ready for everything. We just continue to look at matchups, we continue to look at what they want to do with those guys, just like us trying to put our guys in good positions to make plays. But it definitely is going to be a matchup game like it always is. We’ll try to, as best we can get our guys on the guys that we want to get them on and try to create those good matchups.”
Game Plan For Fitz…Prepare For Tua
Rookie first round, No. 5 overall pick, Tua Tagovailoa has yet to see the field. He hasn’t played a single snap in either game, despite fans in attendance in Hard Rock Stadium chanting for him during Sunday’s loss to the Bills.
Tagovailoa a combination of mobility and insane arm strength. But as our AllDolphins SI colleague explained on Tuesday, there seems to be no plan as of right now for the rookie. Still, while the Jags aren’t necessarily game-planning for Tua, they’re still preparing for him.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” admitted Marrone.
“I think that [with Ryan] Fitzpatrick, there’s a lot of stuff out there on Ryan. I have a ton of respect for him. We see him that he can get hot real and really do well. [With] Tua [Tagovailoa], we haven’t really seen yet except for in college. We’ll make sure we peek it and dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s and just make sure that we can see some of those things and, again, just have a plan for Miami’s offense, not for anyone in particular. They have a lot of good players in a lot of different positions, so you just have to be sound and be ready to go. It’s tough on a short week to put a lot of new stuff in there.”
Added Wash, “will we see Tua [Tagovailoa]? I’m not sure, but if he comes in the game, we’ll be prepared.”
Be Multiple
The Dolphins and Fitzpatrick threw to nine different receivers against the Bills and seven versus the Patriots. The multiplicity of the options mean the Jaguars' defense must disguise and be multiple as well. As Fitzpatrick explained to local Miami reporters on Tuesday, catching defenses bereft as the offense runs free is the basis of Dolphins’ Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey’s philosophy.
“I think it’s supposed to be an offense that changes every week but an offense that tailors to our strengths,” explains Fitzpatrick.
“We’ve got different skill sets and different guys here that we want to try to get involved, whether it’s the big guys on the outside, whether it’s our quick guys on the inside – Isaiah Ford had a great game last week – or continuing to get involved the running backs more involved. I just think as we’re going here, he’s going to continue to figure out what’s going to make us a good offense, a dynamic offense, and we’ll keep feeding those parts. I think part of the charm in his offense is how multiple it is and the ability for it to look different from week to week.”
This week though is a short one, something that can throw a wrench into the carefully regimented structure of athlete’s and coaches ’ lives. As Wash explains though, it’s just another one of the challenges though that the Jacksonville Jaguars defense will be facing on Thursday.
“What’s today, Wednesday? Tuesday? Yeah, it all runs together, but we have a couple more days yet to figure out exactly how the game plan’s going in and that kind of thing. Obviously, they have two very talented quarterbacks. They have a really exceptional tight end and receiver group, so those are all concerns for us. But obviously, it’s a short week.”
